Cleveland Museum of Art

Ornament

Date

c. 300 BCE–100 CE

Medium

hammered and embossed gold-copper alloy

Culture

Peru, South Coast, Ica Valley?, Paracas, c. 300 BC-AD 100

Department

Art of the Americas

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

With its grinning mouth and long, protruding tongue, the face embossed on this fragmentary ornament resembles linear images painted on mummy masks and woven on doublecloth tunics and mantles. Both painted mummy masks and doublecloth garments are most often found in the Ica Valley, a short distance south of the Paracas Peninsula. The ornament's original function is uncertain. Tumbaga is an alloy made by blending gold with copper, which may give the gold a rosy hue.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.